GarageBand?

Hey there! I'm new here, as you can see. I don't have a Mac, but I've wanted one since I found out what they were, haha. I was going to buy one last year (after 3 years of saving) but then my dad made me pay for my vacation, so I had to start over from scratch.

The main reason why I want a Mac so bad is for GarageBand. I've seen bands record their whole albums on this amazing software, and I really really want it to do some demos. But, since Macs are so freaking expensive, and I'm a starving artist, does anyone have any programs similar to GarageBand (that are cheap) that would be worth checking out in the meantime? I have a regular PC, but my dad got a laptop that I can maybe use. Or is there any good apps for the iTouch or iPhone?

Or is there a better program out there that's better than GarageBand? Perhaps I'm in the wrong category...I'm sorry! Please help me out, I'm literally a starving artist hahahah.

If you live at home with your Dad, and have access to the internet, then I doubt that you are actually starving

Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder

This is free, and very powerful. It will be useful if you are actually planning on recording stuff. If you just want to drag and drop pre-made loops... kill yourself

No sorry that's horrible

Ableton Live LE, which is the "lite" version is reasonably cheap, the problem is, you will inevitably want the full version eventually. A lot of MIDI controllers and audio interfaces link for you here will come with a lite version of Ableton or Cubase.
You will want one if not both of the above.

While Garageband is a nice piece of software (especially as it is free), it is by no means the best program out there. It is essentially a very cut down version of Apple Logic Express, which is a cut down version of Logic Pro.

If you are going to get into recording seriously, you wont be using garageband as anything more than an introduction to recording.

Also as has already been suggested, Audacity is excellent software. And there are plenty of higher level programs for PC if you can't afford a Mac, including Cubase and Sonar.

NB. Logic is only for Mac

garage band

Garage band is a pretty basic package for a person that is at the entry level of recording. It's not bad to get started with it and then transition into more sophisticated software.

I'm new here as well... but I had to just support the positive feelings toward audacity. For being a free program that's mac/pc compatible, you can do a lot with it. It's also relatively small, so it's easy to download anywhere.

I haven't actually tried logic or logic pro. Are they miles beyond audacity?